Young Frankenstein

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The new Mel Brooks musical!
 
Okay, so I did one post in October and that was it. October was a busy month, what with Halloween and not celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving and all… it's amazing I got anything done.
 
I was amiss, however, in not writing about the Seattle pre-Broadway production of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN that I saw in August at the Paramount Theater. This production starred the Broadway cast - Roger Bart as Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced…ah well, you know!), Megan Mullally as Elizabeth, Sutton Foster as Inga (the token Scandinavian), Andrea Martin as Frau Blucher, Shuler Hensley as The Monster and Christopher Fitzgerald as Igor. YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN has a book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, music and Lyrics by Mel Brooks, music arrangements by Glen Kelly and choreography and direction by Susan Stroman - in other words, the same gang who brought us THE PRODUCERS.

I was reading the rather harsh Ben Brantley/New York Times review on line  -- "Who Put the Trance in Transylvania" and felt that I needed to set the record straight. Pretty much, he said it wasn't as good, wasn't as funny, and wasn't as tuneful as THE PRODUCERS. Oh, and Roger Bart was overwhelmed (which is just not true!).
I came to see YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN in a very different way than I saw THE PRODUCERS. When I first heard that Mel Brooks was doing a musical, I was skeptical to say the least and had very low expectations. But my husband bought the Broadway cast recording and we listened to it over and over hundred of times, and I fell in love with the music and lyrics (and the performances!). Then we bought the "Making of the Broadway Cast Recording" DVD and fell in love with everyone on it. We had heard the CD so many times we could actually fill in the story. So naturally when we actually saw the show on stage, we loved it, and found all the songs hummable! Needless to say THE PRODUCERS was a phenomenon.
 
So naturally, I came to see YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN with very high expectations, and without ever having heard the sountrack (I had seen the movie a number of times).  I was totally excited, especially to see so many of my favorite performers (Roger Bart and Megan Mullally!!) live on stage. I can honestly say I laughed all the way through it, non stop (more than with THE PRODUCERS), so I don't know why Ben said he only laughed 3 times! It is definitely a sillier show (wow, who knew there was anything sillier than dancing Nazis!), but I think that's because of the source material. I liked the songs a lot and I thought the production numbers were terrific, especially Puttin' On The Ritz.  And Megan Mullally's rendition of Deep Love is frikking hilarious. The only thought I had was, as with THE PRODUCERS, the big number from the movies (Springtime for Hitler in THE PRODUCERS, and Puttin on  the Ritz in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN) tends to be the most outstanding song in the live shows. However, Mel wrote Springtime for Hitler, but he didn't write Puttin on The Ritz, Irving Berlin did.  It's a gutsy move for anyone to put your material up against a song by Irving Berlin. As for Roger Bart, don't believe a word Ben Brantley says. Roger is perfect as the young Dr. Frankenstein. The whole cast is spot on. My only worry with the Broadway show is Brantley's comment that it was too loud (it wasn't in Seattle). Hopefully they will adjust that. I'm sure that YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN will win over audiences just like THE PRODUCERS did. And being one of only eight shows playing on Broadway right now due to the IATSE strike couldn't hurt!
By Suzy Conn on November 12, 2007 10:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)


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